About Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth campaigns for environmental justice and sustainability. We believe in sustainable development - meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. And we believe in fair shares - too often the poorest communties in the world are denied access to the natural resources essential to life, such as fresh water, while rich countries consume and pollute recklessly.

Here in Ireland our top priority right now is to ensure this country does its fair share to prevent runaway climate change. You can play your part by signing up to Act for Climate. Together we can shift the balance.

Internationally, Friends of the Earth is the world's largest network of environmental groups with over one million supporters and campaigners organized in 70 countries. In Ireland, Friends of the Earth was launched in October 2004. We promote education and action for environmental sustainability and environmental justice. We focus on Ireland's response to the big environmental challenges of our time such as climate change and energy, the waste crisis and the spread of GM crops and food.

We believe in environmental limits - that is to say there are limits to what we can take from the environement and to the pollution and waste we can dump into the environemnt without consequence. And within those limits we believe in fair shares of the available environmental space. For example science tells us we must reduce our global greenhouse gas emissions to prevent dangerous climate change. For how long can Ireland justify being the fifth most climate polluting country in the world per person while African countries must develop and raise their emissions for some time in order to lift their population out of poverty?

We promote research based solutions to environmental problems that make life better for people while protecting the planet for future generations.

Friends of the Earth Ireland is a company limited by guarantee (a not-for-profit company) sustained by donations, subcriptions and grants. We are registered with the Companies Office in Dublin (No. 383678) and file annual returns and produce audited accounts.